


Seven Teulu

by merryghoul



Category: Seven Devils - Florence + The Machine (Song)
Genre: Arson, Betrayal, Bodyguard, England (Country), Gen, Historical, Hostage Situations, Kings & Queens, Revenge, Suicide, Wales
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-12
Updated: 2015-05-12
Packaged: 2018-03-30 06:22:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3926152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merryghoul/pseuds/merryghoul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seven bodyguards, seven devils, seven saints.  Seven men who would affect the history of the Kingdom of Mercia and Wales forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seven Teulu

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nary](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nary/gifts).



> This story is based on, but is not entirely faithful to, [the last years of Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians.](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86thelfl%C3%A6d) (I used a translation of her name, Ethelfleda, only because I felt it would be easier to read than Æthelflæd in this story.) Aside from Æthelflæd and Ecghbert, all characters are my own creation. All historical inaccuracies are my own.

Atoc. Beli. Cadwal. Dunna. Ebba. Garu. Hirel. All seven were Teulu, part of the group that made up the bodyguards for King Gwynngy, the ruler of Brycheinog. And all seven were invited to the court of Queen Ethelfleda, the Lady of the Mercians, to discuss simmering tensions between the Mercians and the Welsh. 

Also at the meeting was Abbot Ecgberht. The religious leader of Evesham Abbey, he had a solution that he believed would resolve the longstanding conflicts between Wales and Mercia. 

"I wish to go to Llandaff," Ecgberht said, pouring a glass of wine. The Teulu, Ethelfleda, and Ecgberht were gathered in Ethelfleda's great hall. "There I will join the monks there and lead them for a year. In exchange, Abbot Berhthun will take my place at Evesham Abbey." He took a sip of his wine and grinned. "Are we agreed, gentlemen? Lady?"

The Teulu agreed with Ecgberht, and Ethelfleda agreed with the eight men. "It is settled, then. Gwynngy's most trusted men will escort you to Llandaff before returning to Brycheinog."

Ecgberht and Ethelfleda didn't realize that Ecgberht's attempts at peace between the Welsh and the Mercians would be in vain.

 

The Teulu escorted Ecgberht, as they had promised Ethelfleda. That was the only promise they kept.

When the bodyguards crossed the Welsh border near Powys, Dunna knocked over Ecgberht off his horse with a mace. At first, Ecgberht thought it was a mistake. "Slow down, men," Ecgberht said, "I've fallen and I need to get back on my horse."

Dunna rode back to the fallen Ecgberht. "Oh, no, Abbot. That wasn't a mistake."

Beli stopped his horse and stood over Ecgberht. "Abbot, wanting peace between Mercia and Wales was a mistake. Not all us Welsh want peace. Maybe in Powys they want peace. But in Brycheinog, we want freedom. We represent a free Brycheinog, not a united Wales for the sake of your Mercian queen." 

The seven Teulu stood over Ecgberht. Ecgberht looked up at them, his face frozen in fear, his hands hopelessly attempting to shield him from what they were about to do next.

 

Two days later, the abbot of the monastery of Llandaff rode into Ethelfleda's court in Worchester.

"My Lady, we waited a day to receive Ecgberht," the abbot said after paying tribute to Ethelfleda. "But as of now, he has not shown up in Llandaff at all. I am afraid he has disappeared."

Ethelfleda nodded. "Thank you, Abbot. I know who is responsible for Ecgberht's disappearance. As much as I wanted to avoid war with the tribes of the Welsh, I fear I must declare war on Brycheinog. Ecgberht was a loyal subject of Mercia, and I will not rest until I find him, even if I have to raze Gwynngy's house down. I will round up my best men in all my fortresses, and we shall march into Wales to take Brycheinog."

 

It took two days for Ethelfleda to round up her best men in the fortresses of Mercia. From the valley people of Bridgnorth to the bay people of Runcorn, from the people at Chirbury who lived near the dyke to the river people of Warwick, Ethelfleda was not short on volunteers who were willing to destroy Brycheinog for Ecghbert and Mercia.

Meanwhile, Gywnngy left Brycheinog the day before Ethelfleda's arrival. He left to quell an uprising against one of the men who claimed he was the ruler of Gwynedd in the northwest. Trying to quell the rebellion would be fruitless for Gwynngy, but it would be a saving grace for him.

On the third day, Ethelfleda and the men she had rounded up from across Mercia to Weardbyrig, where she received the final group of men for her Brycheinog campaign. They rode into Wales, an army of five hundred strong. It wasn't the largest army in the world, but it would be large enough to destroy the royal llys, or the court, of Brycheinog. 

Gwynngy's llys consisted of his living quarters, a place of private worship, and his livery, surrounded by a wall. The buildings were made out of clay, but the roofs were wooden. The Welsh never expected their courts to be invaded by foreigners and destroyed. And even with conflicts with the Mercians and threats from the Norsemen, the Welsh never bothered to make their courts ready to stand up to invaders. The setup of the Welsh courts was perfect for Ethelfleda to plan an attack to burn down Gwynngy's llys.

Ethelfleda's archers set a fire near the llys. They dipped their arrowheads in the fire. They got as close to the wall as they could, enough to shoot their arrows over it. They fired their arrows over the wall.

It didn't take long for the fire to burn the houses in the llys. The people in the llys tried to put out the fires with any water on hand, even the holy water in the chapel and whatever water the people from the llys collected by a nearby lake. But there wasn't enough water in and that could be carried from around the llys to put anything out.

Meanwhile, some of Ethelfleda's men charged towards the llys with a battering ram. The way into the llys gave way quickly. 

People started running out of the llys when the door to the llys broke because of the quickly account. Ethelfleda's men captured the people running out of the llys.

One of Ethelfleda's men stopped Ethelfleda as soon as she was about to go in the llys. "Lady," the solider said, "this woman says she is the Queen of Brycheinog."

Two of Ethelfleda's men brought the Queen to Ethelfleda. Two others brought Dunna and Beli to Ethelfleda. "These two say they know our language and can translate for the Queen," the speaking solider said.

"I know," Ethelfleda said. "They betrayed me."

The Queen said something out of fear in Welsh. "Her Highness would like to know why this is happening to the llys in Brycheinog," Dunna said to Ethelfleda. 

"Seven of your Teulu took a loyal servant of mine from my court. Now he has disappeared. I'm razing this llys until I can find where your men took my servant."

Beli told the Queen this in Welsh. 

"The queen will give you all the money you want. She'll even surrender her crown to you if you help her save her home," Dunna said.

"I don't want money or your crown. I'm already busy claiming lands away from the Northmen that threaten my own country. I only want to see your home burned down. I want my servant back. And I want the seven men who betrayed my servant. Atoc." Ethelfleda pointed at Beli. "Beli. Cadwal." She pointed at Dunna. "Dunna. Ebba. Garu. Hirel. Surrender them to me and you can have your ruins."

"Never," Dunna translated. "My men had nothing to do with your servant's death. Leave my kingdom alone!"

"Then you shall be my prisoner. You and the Teulu and anyone else we can find alive. You shall make your home in captivity in Mercia for life. I must look for my servant. Men, arrest the Queen, Beli, and Dunna."

"You won't find him here," Dunna translated.

"You and the Queen are liars," Ethelfleda said.

In the chaos, Ethelfleda went into the burning llys to find Ecghbert. She went into Gwynngy's house. The private chapel. The livery. Ecghbert wasn't there. But everything around her seemed to be forming a bizarre Evensong around her, a symphony of Mercian justice for Ecghbert. Ethelfleda thought at one moment that Ecghbert would be pleased at the destruction caused in his name.

In total, thirty-seven prisoners were captured. The seven Teulu were in attendance as well as the Queen. But of those thirty-seven prisoners, Ecghbert was not among them.

Before the prisoners could march towards Mercia, Dunna was able to fight the solider attempting to capture him. He broke free from his grasp, but stopped moving as soon as he was free. "Brothers, free yourselves!" he said in Welsh.

While the other prisoners, including the Queen, didn't resist arrest from Ethelfleda's men, the other six Teulu fought and freed themselves to join Dunna.

Ethelfleda walked to where the Teulu were making their making their last stand. "What is the meaning of this?"

"We will not be servants of the Kingdom of Mercia," Dunna said to Ethelfleda. "We will go to the grave never telling you where your Abbot is now. We would rather die than to be dragged on our hands and knees to a foreign land. We will die for our country. For Brycheinog! For Wales!"

"For Wales!" the rest of the Teulu said.

The Teulu pulled out their daggers all at the same time and slit their throats, bleeding to death on the land in front of the castle. 

After the Teulu had finished bleeding, Ethelfleda pointed at some of her men. "Drag their bodies back into the flames. Let them be saints for their pointless cause. I don't care. But I would like some time to myself before we head back into Mercia."

Ethelfleda walked outside the burning llys after the Teulu killed themselves. For some reason, the sacrifice of the Teulu nullified her raid in the name of Ecghbert. She looked at the llys as if her spirit, her hopes, and her dreams were burning along with the llys. She then gathered up her men and rode back to Mercia, her wishes for peace with the Welsh dashed, her Teulu enemies sacrificing their lives to defy arrest, her quest to find Ecghbert futile.

 

Those who survived the demolition of the llys, including the Queen, never came back to Brycheinog again. And when King Gwynngy returned to Brycheinog to find his llys in ruins, he lie on what was once his property and cried for days until he sought shelter in the Kingdom of Powys. Gwynngy eventually built a new llys in Brycheinog and started a new life with a new wife who would bear him issue, but he lived the rest of his days in a joyless state. Only death gave him a release for his pain.

 

Ethelfleda was able to achieve a lot in the last few years of her life. She took Derby from the Northmen and claimed it for Mercia. She also peacefully took over Leicester, in the hopes that she could protect Leicester from Ragnall and the Northmen who lived in Ireland. She was also close to claiming the lands of York for Mercia as well before her death. But there was one thing she couldn't shake, one thing she couldn't forget: the death of Ecgberht.

No one knows how Ethelfleda died. Some think she caught a disease at the time and died. Others think she died of natural causes. The truth was that Ethelfleda died three years ago, when Ecgberht went missing. She was dead when she came after the llys in Brycheinog. She was dead when her hopes of uniting Wales and Mercia died. In the end, the heartbreak of that one tactical failure claimed her life.

When Ethelfleda died, she hallucinated the seven Teulu around her death bed, all of them with slit marks still around their throats. All of them took out their daggers. But instead of slitting their own throats again, they had their daggers aimed at Ethelfleda's heart. The free hands of the Teulu were outstretched, as if they were going to rip out her heart.

"Go on and kill me, you false saints!" were Ethelfleda's last words. 

Wales wouldn't be free forever. A united England would eventually conquer Wales years later. But for several years, the seven Teulu rebels helped uphold Wales' freedom. And while their sacrifice and their "sainthood" was forgotten, there was one thing, that, in the age of the Welsh tribes, the Teulu had that Welsh people would have years later: Welsh pride.


End file.
